RI, GAM clinch peace deal
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta, Helsinki
The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) looks set to be allowed to form a political party as part of a peace accord agreed on Sunday between it and the government to end 30 years of separatist fighting in Aceh.
The two sides reached a preliminary peace deal in Finland on Sunday, which they will formalize in a memorandum of understanding on Aug. 15. The two sides have vowed there will be "no substantive changes" to the agreed draft.
It is still unsure, however, whether the eight-page draft stipulated whether the GAM would be allowed to form a local political party as the rebels strongly demanded in the peace talks, or an Aceh-based national party as offered by the government.
The current law forbids the establishment of local political parties and stipulates that all parties must be headquartered in Jakarta and have representation in half of the country's provinces, something it is unlikely GAM would be able to achieve.
Any move to allow a GAM political party would be a further compromise on the government's part. Earlier government negotiators said they would allow former GAM rebels to take part in regional elections only if they joined existing political parties.
Other details in the agreement were not made public but government delegation chief Hamid Awaluddin said the memorandum would cover the governing of Aceh, including political participation, as well as the questions of human rights, an amnesty for GAM members and their reintegration into society, security arrangements, and disputes settlement body.
"As we return to Jakarta, we will intensify our consultation with the House of Representatives, but I believe that they will also support the achievements," he said.
GAM negotiating team member Mohammed Nur Djuli, however, said the draft agreement allowed the secessionist group to create a local political party.
He said several legal arrangements would be made to accommodate the demand and "we (GAM) leave the matter to the Indonesian government and the parliament".
The issue of political parties has been one of the main focuses of the talks, with GAM insisting that the government allow the Acehnese people to form their own political parties without the intervention of the central government.
In Jakarta, Vice President Jusuf Kalla indicated his support for allowing GAM to set up its own localized party, saying the House of Representatives would have to agree to change the law to accommodate GAM's key demand.
"The setting up of a local party would need a change in the law, and it would need the agreement of the House," he said hours after the talks ended in Helsinki.
Kalla leads the Golkar Party, the largest bloc in the House, which is expected to support any move to change the law.
However, earlier in the day, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono repeated his rejection of GAM's demand for local party representation.
"I have repeatedly explained that the Indonesian political system is a national system," Susilo said.
The idea is also likely to meet strong resistance from nationalist factions in the legislature, which remain deeply suspicious of GAM's claim it has decided to drop its long-held campaign for an independent Aceh.
Legislator Djoko Susilo from the House's Commission I on defense and foreign affairs welcomed the latest development in the peace talks, emphasizing the crucial need for a truce and confidence-building measures.
Djoko said the government should have offered an option where former GAM members were allowed to contest elections as independent candidates, a practice common in other countries.
On the creation of proposed Aceh-based parties, Djoko said it was a risky move.
"Former GAM members will have a structured organization that could endanger the government in the future. Frankly, I don't think would be easy for them to relinquish their dream of independence quickly. Also, regionally based parties could strengthen the (divisive) sense of ethnicity," he said.
Meanwhile, the Aceh Working Group and the Acehnese Civil Society Task Force urged on Sunday both parties to prioritize settling security arrangement issues first to prevent any peace deal from falling apart.
They said such a detailed arrangement was also essential to support the ongoing reconstruction work in tsunami-ravaged province.
Peace talks mediator Martti Ahtisaari said all fighting on the ground should immediately cease after any deal was made.
He appealed to both sides to "do their utmost to end the violence, which is unfortunately still going on".
The government and GAM have also agreed to establish an Aceh monitoring mission to check on the progress of disarmament, which would be run by the EU and several Asian countries.